Harvard Law drops controversial seal

Say goodbye to Harvard Law’s seal, which has been under protest thanks to it being derived from a slave-owning family, according to The Harvard Crimson.

The school’s highest governing body, The Harvard Corporation, agreed on Monday that Harvard Law School could drop the shield; the decision came less than a week after a Harvard law committee released a report recommending it be abandoned.

As previously reported by USA TODAY College, the current shield is drawn from the family crest of Isaac Royall, Jr., “whose bequest to the College in 1781 was used to create the first endowed professorship of law in the College in 1815. Royall derived his wealth from the labor of enslaved persons on a plantation he owned on the island of Antigua and on farms he owned in Massachusetts.”

Harvard President Drew Faust and Corporation Senior Fellow William F. Lee approved of the recommendation in a letter penned to the committee, according to The Harvard Crimson.

“Following a review of the committee report, the ‘different view’ conveyed by Professor Gordon-Reed and Ms. Rittgers, and your own memorandum, the Corporation agrees with your judgment and the recommendation of the committee that the Law School should have the opportunity to retire its existing shield and propose a new one.”

Michael Schramm is a student at University of Michigan and a USA TODAY College digital producer